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Welcome

Our mission

UNSW Sydney and Children’s Cancer Institute have joined forces to create Australasia’s only integrated childhood and adult cancer medical research institute, the UNSW Lowy Cancer Research Centre.

Our mission is to learn how childhood and adult cancers start and develop, and to discover new treatments to save lives and eliminate suffering.

Fifty years ago, fewer than 10 per cent of children survived cancer. Now, the survival rate across all childhood cancers is greater than 70 per cent. Yet, despite all our technological advances, 3 in 10 children diagnosed with cancer are destined to die. Among adults, cancer is an even bigger problem. 1 in 3 Australian men and 1 in 4 women will be directly affected by cancer before the age of 75. If we can understand the differences between childhood and adult cancer and focus on these differences then we will gain insights into both. Child and adult cancer researchers tend to ask different questions but it is becoming clearer that there are common pathways if you know where to find them. The UNSW Lowy Cancer Research Centre brings together childhood and adult cancer researchers to find those pathways and to understand what they mean.

Our researchers have a track-record of cross-fertilisation between basic cancer research and clinical, or translational, research. This means that discoveries made in basic research are rapidly and efficiently translated to the clinic or public health arena, while the clinical experience in turn guides the basic research.

The Holy Grail in medical research is translating something discovered in the lab into clinical practice to provide a new outcome for people with that disease. It is what researchers call bench-to-bedside, and it is the UNSW Lowy Cancer Research Centre‘s bench-to-bedside capability that will provide a platform for its success.